SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales by Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, the South Korean unit of British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, nearly halved over the past two years in the wake of widespread consumer boycotts, industry sources said Wednesday. Local civic groups launched boycotts as the company sold home humidifier sterilizers using [...]

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC said Thursday it will shut down its plant in South Korea this month as its sales were hit hard by the humidifier sterilizer case that took over 100 lives. Oxy Reckitt Benckiser (or RB Korea), a wholly owned unit of the British consumer giant, will [...]

SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) – An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a 16-month prison term handed down to a local professor on charges of bribery for manipulating a report in favor of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser in a high-profile toxic humidifier disinfectant case. The Seoul High Court convicted the professor at Hoseo University in Asan, [...]

SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – A Seoul court on Friday sentenced a former head of Reckitt Benckiser’s local unit to seven years in prison, more than five years after the scandal over the household goods maker’s toxic humidifier sterilizers came to light. The Seoul Central District Court convicted Shin Hyun-woo, 68, of selling the [...]

SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Korea Bizwire) – The chief of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser attended a court hearing Tuesday, apologizing to the victims of the company’s toxic humidifier sterilizer products. Ata Safdar appeared at the Seoul Central District Court as the representing director of the Korean unit of the British firm, which is standing trial as a [...]

SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – The head of Britain-based Reckitt Benckiser formally apologized over its toxic humidifier sterilizers that claimed many lives in South Korea, a parliamentary special committee probing the scandal said Thursday. The so-called Oxy humidifier disinfectant case came to light after four pregnant women died of unknown lung problems in 2011. [...]

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – Oxy Reckitt Benckiser (RB) may have finalized its toxic humidifier sterilizer compensation plan, but victims and their families are still not convinced. Instead, they’re criticizing the company for applying a double standard to the compensatory measures. “Oxy RB is the biggest aggressor in the toxic sterilizer tragedy. It concealed [...]

SEOUL, August 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Oxy Reckitt Benckiser on Sunday announced its compensation plans for South Koreans who died or became seriously ill after using its toxic humidifier sanitizers, despite victims still demanding an apology from the company’s British headquarters. After holding three rounds of negotiations with the victims and their families over compensation, [...]

SEOUL, July 14 (Korea Bizwire) – The CEO of Google Korea who formerly headed the local unit of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser has been indicted over the British firm’s toxic humidifier sterilizers which resulted in numerous deaths and illnesses here, prosecutors said Thursday. John Lee has been accused of playing a part in the deaths of [...]

SEOUL, July 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Consumer anxiety is growing in Korea with the recent discovery of nickel in Coway water purifiers. Coway is Korea’s leading manufacturer and rental service operator of water purifiers. Although the company is maintaining its official stance that the amount of detected nickel is minimal and is harmless to the [...]